Chapter 382
Keira was confused.
….
She took a step back and asked James, “What did you just call me?”
James hesitated slightly.
Thinking about how his third uncle fancied this young woman, and that the banquet in a few days was being held in a secretive manner without much fanfare, he cleared his throat, stepped forward, and said, “I’ve come to understand your relationship with my third uncle. Well, it’s fine if you don’t want me to call you something so intimate in public.”
Keira didn’t know what to say.
Before she could figure out the relationship he mentioned, she saw James turn to the gatekeeper. “This is an elder of my family… No, she’s a friend of mine. Be more respectful to her in the future.”
The gatekeeper immediately clasped his fist in salute. “Yes, Second Senior Brother!”
Then he turned to Keira with a fist salute. “I apologize, young lady. If you had said you knew Second Senior Brother earlier, I would have let you in. However, the Freeman Sect really doesn’t take temporary jobs.”
Only then did James look at Keira. “What temporary job?”
Keira cleared her throat. “I want to cooperate with the Freeman Sect.”
“Cooperate?”
James was completely baffled.
The gatekeeper immediately laughed. “Miss, what you’re proposing is just a one-time deal, not cooperation. Even if we assign a few people to protect you out of respect for Second Senior Brother, at most it’s an employment relationship.”
Keira stopped short on hearing this. “So what would qualify as cooperation?”
James explained, “Actually, the Freeman Sect doesn’t accept cooperation from anyone. We just practice our own martial arts. If you really want to talk about a cooperative relationship, the only way would be for you to join the Freeman Sect and become an Inner Sect Disciple, then we could perhaps refer to it as a cooperation?”
Keira was dumbfounded.
Was this what martial arts families mean by cooperation?
She had thought it would be like with the Olsen family and the Davis family, where finding a project everyone could make money on was considered cooperation.
After pondering for a moment, she looked at James again. “So how can one join the Freeman Sect and become an Inner Sect Disciple?”
This question rendered James somewhat speechless.
He coughed, lifted his chin, and said, “Actually, it’s very difficult to become an Inner Sect Disciple. Apart from hard work, it mainly depends on one’s natural talent. Those of us who wish to learn martial arts are sent to the Freeman Sect for Bone Assessment around the age of three or four. Only those with exceptional innate qualities are taken in as Inner Sect Disciples by the Freeman Sect.”
James patted his chest, confidently saying, “Out of the seven Olsen brothers of our family, only I was chosen! Not even Ellis was qualified”
Keira thought, “That’s your family, not mine.”
But…
If the Freeman Sect only took in kids, she certainly couldn’t turn herself into a three- or four-year-old child. What was she supposed to do now?
The first person she thought of was Amy.
But that wouldn’t do.
Amy’s personality was too gentle, and she wasn’t cut out for martial arts; her bones were too thin and too soft, though she was quite good at dancing.
Keira was troubled. “Hasn’t there ever been an older person who was selected?”
“Yes!” James said, “Our senior sister was noticed by the Sect Leader when she was fifteen!”
Speaking of the senior sister, the gatekeeper got excited too. “Right, our Sect Leader said that our senior sister had an extraordinary foundation. Although she was fifteen, she was especially resilient, seemingly because she had been beaten up from a young age. As a result, she developed an ironclad body, which is incredibly formidable. She’s a standout talent among our generation. Unfortunately, the Sect Leader has been secretly training her, so none of us have seen what the senior sister looks like!”
Mentioning the senior sister, James also looked wistful. “Our Sect Leader said he planned to have the senior sister come back to the Freeman Sect at the age of 23 to give us some guidance. By my calculations, that time should almost be upon us…”
The gatekeeper immediately got excited. “Second Senior Brother, you’ve practically fought all over the Freeman Sect unbeaten. When the senior sister arrives, the two of you should have a match! See who is more powerful!”
Upon hearing this, James gave him a smack on the head. “What nonsense are you spouting? How could I compare with our senior sister? The Sect Leader said that she became a disciple at fifteen, became a master by eighteen, and at the age of twenty, she almost bested the Sect Leader by half a move! I can’t even defeat the Sect Leader yet, how could I compare with the senior sister? Don’t stir up trouble for me! I know my place!”
The gatekeeper chuckled.
Keira, unable to contain herself as the two men chatted enthusiastically, interjected, “Actually, my constitution isn’t too shabby either. I’ve been especially resilient to beatings since I was young. Could you take me to meet your Sect Leader?”
As soon as she said this, both the gatekeeper and James fell silent. They both looked toward Keira in unison, twitching at the corners of their mouths as if they thought what she had just said was a joke.
Glancing at James, the gatekeeper coughed and said, “Not to put you down, but you’re over twenty this year, aren’t you? No matter how skilled someone is, by that age their bones have set, and without a solid foundation, it’s no good. The legend of the senior sister, being able to practice martial arts at fifteen, the Sect Leader said it was because she never had enough to eat or wear when she was young, so her body fully developed…”
Keira explained, “…But I also started practicing martial arts when I was fifteen. Maybe there’s a chance?”
Back when she had just started middle school, she left the Olsen family at the age of fourteen. After that, she worked to earn money and met a martial arts master of her own. While she was selling balloons in the park and reading books at the same time, a middle-aged man kept staring at her and then approached her.
“Young lady, I can see that you have an exceptional foundation and a natural talent for martial arts. Why don’t you become my disciple?”
At the time, Keira was almost ready to call the police, claiming he was harassing her, until he finally agreed to pay her five hundred bucks for an hour of martial arts practice with him every day. That was when she consented. She trained with him for four or five years, and eventually, her master said he was going to wander the world. He told her to keep practicing on her own and that he would look for her when the right time came.
Come to think of it, it had been two years since she last saw her master. She didn’t even ask for her master’s name when he left…
Keira then looked toward James. “Just take me to see him. We won’t know if it’ll work or not until we try.”
James wanted to refuse. But then he remembered his uncle’s instruction from this morning to be filial to his aunt, and he twitched at the corner of his mouth. “Alright, then follow me!”
James tossed the car keys to the gatekeeper and walked into the compound with Keira.
The Freeman Sect was vast, and as soon as they entered, they could see martial artists practicing all around, with grunts and shouts echoing non-stop, oozing with masculinity.
After walking with James for about half an hour, they arrived in front of a bungalow. He said, “The Sect Leader is meditating inside. I’ll call him for you.”
Inside the room, at that moment, Trevor Freeman, the Sect Leader of the Freeman Sect, had tears streaming down his face. He was looking at a photo with his disciple, Keira, on his phone, sobbing uncontrollably. Having been so picky all his life, he had only taken in one disciple, but how could she have drowned so young?!
Just then, he heard James’s voice from outside the door, “Master, I’ve brought someone to see you. Is it a good time now?”
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